The journey from La Paz to the San José de Uchupiamonas community, in the heart of Madidi National Park, reinforces its ecological importance. I flew from El Alto at 7:30 in the morning and the terror of boarding a plane that could fit in my living room was alleviated the moment the Amazon began to sprawl beneath us. It was an experience in and of itself. Soon I would be on a boat making my way down those same rivers and estuaries.

After a five month break during the wet season, the Identidad Madidi field team is reunited on the fifth leg of its Bolivian scientific expedition. The Andean foothill forests of the upper Hondo River represent our seventh study site in a series of fifteen spanning the unique altitudinal range of almost 6,000 meters (194m to 6,044m above sea level) of Madidi National Park. Identidad Madidi will run for two and a half years between May 2015 and October 2017 and I will continue to blog on its progress and findings.